Welcome to the new off-season series, aptly named ‘Final Fantasy’. In this series, Razzball will be focusing the spotlight on certain players that either exceeded or fell-by-the-wayside of our expectations, and we’ll briefly touch them with our thoughts, legally. Despite rumor (and the series name), we will not be discussing anything +5 to magic missile. Unless there’s actually a NFL player that shoots missiles. And has, like, an amulet to vitality or something like that. Michael Vick’s -98 amulet of dog-caring will be excluded in this particular instance. Regardless, let’s get to the spotlight for today, and that’s Jordan Cameron.
| Rush | YDS | TD | REC | YDS | TD | |
| ESPN Projections | – | – | – | 53 | 599 | 3 |
| CBS Projections | – | – | – | 59 | 742 | 6 |
| Razzball Projections | – | – | – | 59 | 696 | 5 |
| 2013 Actual Stats | – | – | – | 80 | 917 | 7 |
Let’s take a look at Rob Chudzinski, the former head coach of the Browns, and his history with the tight end position. The first player is Antonio Gates (San Diego Chargers), from 2005-06 (tight ends coach) and 2009-10 (offensive coordinator). During that period, Gates had 5.07 catches, 69.54 yards and .65 touchdowns per game (57 games). As the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2007-08), his tight end was Kellen Winslow. In 26 games, he had 4.8 catches, 59 yards and 0.3 touchdowns per game. The last player was Greg Olsen, when he was the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2011-12). His numbers were 3.56 catches, 43.21 yards and 0.3 touchdowns per game (32 games). After seeing the production of all three players, I really liked the potential of Jordan Cameron.
Let’s take a look at the game log for 2013:
– Weeks 1-8 (eight games):Â 6.1 catches, 74.5 yards, .75 touchdowns on 8.4 targets per game.
– Weeks 9-17 (seven games):Â 4.4 catches, 45.9 yards, .1 touchdowns on 7.3 targets per game.
His final numbers in 15 games was 80 catches, 917 yards, seven touchdowns, all on 118 targets. Those numbers had him in a tie for 5th place among tight ends in standard (Non-PPR) scoring.
The first quarter of the season, Jordan Cameron got off to a fantastic start; he had a stat line of 7.5 catches, 90 yards, 1.25 touchdowns on 10.8 targets per game. His best game (fantasy-wise) was week three, versus the Minnesota Vikings. He had six catches for 66 yards, and three touchdowns on 11 targets. That performance, earned him 24 points and a second place finish among tight ends in standard (Non-PPR) scoring (ESPN). During this stretch of games, he saw at least 11 targets in three games and he had no less than 91 yards in three games. Also during that period, he found the end zone at least once in three games. The final stat I want to focus on is that he averaged 16 fantasy points per game, and was a TE1 in all four games. That helped him finish in the top six or higher among other tight ends in three games.
Over the next four games, he saw a very noticeable drop in targets. From weeks 5-8, he was thrown the football only six times a game. This did not stop him from still producing as he was able to finish as a TE1 in the final three games, and he placed in the top-5 in two of those games. Overall, the first half of the season Cameron presented extraordinary value for anybody who drafted him.
Unfortunately, in the second half of the season, everything turned upside down. His numbers saw a noticeable drop in almost every area. Even with only about one less target a game (-1.1), he only caught four or fewer passes in four games. As you would expect, the lack of catches really hurt his receiving yards, and he had five games with no more than 43 yards. The most glaring regression was in the touchdown department, as he only scored one touchdown. That is a drastic difference from the six touchdowns in the first eight games. As you can see, he did not have a very efficient seven games.
The new offensive coordinator for the Browns is Kyle Shanahan, and he has had past success with the tight end position. While the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans (08-09), he had Owen Daniels. In 26 games, his stat line was 4.6 catches, 57.5 yards, 0.3 touchdowns on 6.6 targets per game. As the offensive coordinator for the Washington Football Team, his tight ends (Chris Cooley, Fred Davis, and Jordan Reed) had a stat line of 4.9 catches, 57.94 yards, 0.24 touchdowns on 7.4 targets in 37 games. It’s a very small sample size, but in the two games with Brian Hoyer as the quarterback, he had 8 catches, 78.5 yards, two touchdowns on 11.5 targets per game. If you take the offensive scheme, add in his ability, you have a player with a lot of upside at the tight end position for 2014.
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